Ban xia hou po tang
ban xia 24 hou po 9 sheng jiang 15 fu ling 9 zi su ye 6
For women as if with a piece of fried meat stuck in the throat, ban xia hou po tang governs.
It treats a stagnation in the throat either due to an accumulation of dampness and or phlegm or due to a congestion in the yang ming that prevents yang ming from descending. We could see this happening in a tai yin pattern and or combined yang ming, shao yang and tai yin pattern.
This formula contains xiao ban xia tang which is ban xia and sheng jiang and this treats vomiting and poking rheum under the heart.
What we can learn from this formula is that we can add hou po and zi su ye to formulas to support the opening of the throat to allow descent.
Ban xia, Pinelliae rhizoma is pungent dispersing of the liver blood and the ministerial fire in the san jiao. It is pungent dispersing of the cold and dampness in the stomach domain, spleen and lung. It transforms tai yin damp phlegm generated from excessive and stagnant cold dampness and counteracts nausea and adverse flow.
Combined with hou po, sheng jiang and zi su ye it dries and transforms excessive internal dampness.
Hou po, Magnoliae cortex is bitter and aromatic. It is bitter descending of dampness in the stomach domain, chest and lungs.
It disperses stagnation and moves qi. It disperses qi congestion and descends adverse qi flow. It opens the chest and allows descent of yang ming. It clears dampness with its aromatic transforming action as well as its bitter and warm drying.
Sheng jiang, Zingiberis rhizoma recens is pungent dispersing of the liver and pericardium blood and the ministerial fire in the san jiao. Sheng jiang is pungent dispersing of dampness and cold in the stomach domain, spleen and lung.
Sheng jiang is pungent connecting of the tai yin with the tai yang. It supports raising of the clear qi to the chest and the 100 vessels.
Fu ling, Poria is sweet and neutral. It drains fluids but is not bitter. Fu ling is tonifying the stomach domain, spleen, kidney and bladder to move excess fluids. It moves more than it tonifies.
Fu ling is supporting the clearing of dampness.
Zi su ye, Perillae folium is pungent dispersing of liver blood and ministerial fire. It is pungent dispersing of cold and dampness in the chest and stomach domain. It warms the surface and disperses excess in Earth and Metal.
Zi su ye is only used once in the Shang Han Za Bing Lun.
Zi su ye, ban xia, hou po and sheng jiang are all pungent dispersing of cold on the surface so this formula could be used for an external pattern of tai yang wind cold with tai yin cold and damp accumulation if the dose of the zi su ye was raised to 24.